


All Around You

by mythicaliz



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: College, Drabbles, Fatherhood, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up Together, Love, Moving, Other, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Septuple Drabble, Short & Sweet, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 11:57:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12108216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicaliz/pseuds/mythicaliz
Summary: From a middle school blood oath to dancing their way into California Rhett and Link's friendship is nothing short of extraordinary.





	All Around You

**Author's Note:**

> All Around You by Sturgill Simpson is a beautiful song about love guiding you through good times and bad. I decided to break my story into seven drabbles of real life events in the life of Rhett & Link showing how their friendship has led them to their destiny. I hope you enjoy!

  
_'Cause our bond is eternal_  
_And so is love_  
_God is inside you all around you_  
_And up above_ _  
_ Show me, show me, you're the way

 

* * *

 

On a crisp, fall North Carolina day two not-quite-boys-not-quite-men sat on rocks in a cow pasture.  On a ragged piece of notebook paper they wrote _We promise to do something together someday_. It wasn't eloquent or elegant but with a cut to the palm and a firm handshake they made an eternal bond.

 

“Blood brothers?” The taller one asked, his palm still red and sticky pressed into his friends.  

 

“Blood brothers,” the other one affirmed with a huge grin.

 

They grew up going to church,  they had performed all the rites, but nothing had ever felt as sacred as this.

 

* * *

 

The second Link entered the Cape Fear River he knew he’d fucked up. His limbs turned to cement and he sunk under the frigid, murky water. Rhett witnessing, stupidly followed after. It took every ounce of strength to swim. Eventually they made it to the private island, lying motionless on the riverbank, shivering and gasping for air, staring at one another. Grey-green and blue gazes met as if to say, _you’re not allowed to die. Not today. We have so much more we need to do. Please, not today..._ Not for themselves but for each other, they found the will.

 

* * *

 

“Hold on, I'm just coming to. Evidently I've hurt my left hip.”

 

“Yes Link, I know. You broke your pelvis,” Rhett said, exasperated from having this conversation for the 100th time.

 

“Why aren't you hurt?”

 

“Because unlike you I didn't try to get fancy on my snowboard.”

 

“Hold on, I'm just coming to. Evidently I've hurt my left hip.”

 

Rhett winced. Everytime Link repeated himself he got more scared. Like Link was slipping away from him.

 

“Snap out of it Link… promise I'll do anything if… please… just… ” his voice broke.

 

“Rhett, I love you too… Why aren't you hurt?”

 

* * *

 

Link paced back and forth the terminal, checking the monitor for Arrivals: Slovakia.  He had so much to tell him.  About girls he had kissed; and how he rigged up a discman to play CDs in his truck. On the drive home Link looked at Rhett glowing in the autumn sunset.

 

“Swear when you leave you'll always come home?”

 

“How about from now on I take you with me, buddyroll?”

 

They sung along to Merle, windows down, hands out, slapping time on the doors of Link's truck. It didn't matter where they were. When they were together they were home.

 

* * *

 

“You nervous, man? Rhett asked, straightening his best-friends bowtie.

 

“About the day,  yeah.  About marriage?  Naw.”

 

“You're vowing _till death do you part_ and you're not nervous?”

 

“I made a vow to stick with you and it's worked out alright.  It's not scary to promise your life to someone when you've already had an 18 year relationship.  Plus the day I met Christy I had the same feeling as the day I met you. Like I had been missing something and didn't even know until I found it.”

 

Rhett smiled and squeezed his shoulder,  “OK Brother.  Let's get you hitched.”

 

* * *

 

“Knock, knock,” Rhett said as he entered the hospital room, seeing Link, a tired and happy third time father holding a big-for-a-baby-but-small-comparatively child in his capable arms. Rhett smiled and aimed the camera at the squirming baby, introducing Lando to the Mythical Beasts of the internet. He knew he would change this baby’s diapers, take him camping and give him advice as a teenager. He would attend his graduation, his wedding, and someday arrive at the hospital when he had kids of his own. This baby, who shared his middle name, was as much his as any of his others.

 

* * *

 

Fuquay to L.A. In six days. It seemed crazy. They were almost delirious from highway-hypnosis and fatigue but they kept each other alert with road-games and songs. They had chuckled that morning when they both got in the truck in matching outfits. Royal blue shirts and black jeans. They thought it a good omen, they were in sync. When they pulled the truck onto the shoulder and danced across the California border they _knew_ it was right. As their feet crossed the imaginary line it was an unwritten promise, that they would do it. Together they could do anything.

 

* * *

 

_'Cause time slips away_

_Skies fall apart_

_It ain't too hard_

_A universal heart_

_Glowing, flowing, all around you_

**Author's Note:**

> there might be other examples where they talk about these stories but here are the ones I used.
> 
> [Blood Oath](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_22brTJkL3o)
> 
> [Nearly Drowing in the Cape Fear River](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4fuvrPn_M)  
>    
> [Link's Broken Pelvis ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0eiJIgVc9s)
> 
> [Rhett in Slovakia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7RQmb9d-Q&t=332s) brief mention here as well as in some ear biscuits 
> 
> [Link's Wedding ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBklTFVIipw&t=10s) There conversation is actually based off the conversation I had on my wedding day with my best friend who I met the first day of kindergarden.
> 
> [Meet Lando ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8dHiZWzoIc&t=94s)
> 
>  [Dancing Across State Lines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIZTVzx_K60) I didn't make it up. They are literally wearing the same outfit as they danced into California.


End file.
